A heterogeneous network (HetNet) includes different wireless networks, such as a macro cell, a pico cell, and a femto cell. Transmit power and coverage of different base stations are different. Transmit power and coverage of a high-power base station (for example, a macro base station) are relatively large, and transmit power and coverage of a low-power base station (for example, a Femto base station and a Pico base station) are relatively small. A typical HetNet scenario is that multiple low-power base stations provide hotspot coverage within coverage of a single high-power base station.
In a type of energy saving (ES) case of a self-organizing network (SON), a low-power base station used for hotspot coverage is shut down for energy saving when there is no high-speed data service (for example, at night), and basic coverage and basic service support are provided by a macro base station. As load in a macro cell increases, an appropriate low-power base station needs to be awakened on a network side to provide a service for a user equipment (UE) in coverage of the low-power base station, so as to reduce the load in the macro cell. Alternatively, in a cell selection solution supporting uplink-downlink separation, a UE needs to access a base station according to an optimal channel condition in the uplink and downlink, for example, the UE accesses a macro base station in the downlink, and accesses a low-power base station in the uplink. In the foregoing scenarios, the low-power base station needs to identify whether UEs originally served by a macro base station (these UEs may be referred to as MUEs) fall within coverage of the low-power base station.
In the prior art, a low-power base station can identify an MUE and an interference status of the MUE by actively listening to uplink transmission of the MUE; however, according to the interference status only, it cannot be accurately determined whether the MUE falls within coverage of the low-power base station. For example, a receive power of an MUE outside the coverage of the low-power base station may be relatively high possibly due to a relatively transmit power of the MUE when the low-power base station performs receiving, and if according to the interference status, it may be incorrectly determined that the MUE falls within the coverage.